With increased violence unfolding in Afghanistan, Pope Francis appealed to all Christians to fast and intensify their prayers.

Pope Francis held a private audience with Nadia Murad, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and survivor of the Islamic State-led genocide in Iraq, Aug. 26 at the Vatican.

Heartbreaking images of mothers and fathers handing their infants and toddlers to U.S. soldiers during the evacuation of Kabul were like seeing the desperation of Jochebed, Moses’ mother, as she put him in a basket in the Nile River to save him, said an editorial in the Vatican newspaper.

Hypocrites are afraid of the truth, fearful of who they really are and incapable of truly loving, Pope Francis said during his weekly general audience.

Among the many threats to human life and dignity, the Vatican is making sure that the widening use of lethal autonomous weapons systems worldwide is not reduced to a natural progression of technology that people learn to accept and live with.

Cardinal Raymond L. Burke remained hospitalized for COVID-19 but as of Aug. 21 he was taken off a ventilator that he had been on for some days and taken out of the ICU to be returned to a regular hospital room, according to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse.

God can be found in the humanity of Jesus and in the people one meets in life, Pope Francis said.

When each individual makes a small act of charity, like getting the COVID-19 vaccine, every gesture added together can transform the world, Pope Francis said in a global ad campaign.

“I join in the unanimous concern for the situation in Afghanistan. I ask all of you to pray with me to the God of peace, so that the clamor of weapons might cease and solutions can be found at the table of dialogue,” the pope said Aug. 15.

U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke has been hospitalized and put on a ventilator less than one week after telling people he tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19.